High School for me was an exercise in productivity. My goal was to achieve the highest grade possible while doing the minimum amount of work. I had teachers droning on about potential or bad learning habits, and I zoned out the noise. I kept my head down when I needed to and was a butterfly when expected to be. I wore many hats in high school, whether it be as an athlete, a friend, a class officer, or, on occasion, a learner. I always credited my distaste of schooling to my above average test-taking skills. Tests never made me nervous and I honestly did most of my learning on test day when I had to figure out what was taught and how to do it on my own. Life in high school for me was as follows: show up to class, participate when necessary, only complete graded homework, take a test, rinse, repeat. I wish I had a story of how I met a teacher that inspired me to try my hardest and reach my true potential but, unfortunately, I did not. Instead, I had many teachers who tried and failed. First was my sophomore English teacher Mrs. Carty, and to this day the best teacher I’ve ever had. Sophomore year was the closest I’ve ever come to a great student. I did my homework on time and paid attention to every class. Mrs. Carty was a great influence on that. Her class was the hardest class I’ve ever taken because she constantly demanded interaction with her students. The essays I wrote in her class were revised half a dozen times each and are the best essays I’ve written. Unfortunately, after her class I fell into an academic and motivational rut. I stopped doing homework and forgot the advantages of learning how I did in her class. Next was my Chemistry teacher, Mrs. True. Chemistry is currently my favorite and best subject, so the material came easy to me, but this was junior year, so I was at a valley, educational wise. Luckily for me chemistry came easily to me. I aced every test the first semester and received a 100 on my midterm. The second semester wasn’t so kind to me. When the A’s turned to B’s, Mrs. True started to worry about me. In a way only she could, she walked up to me as class was ending and quietly asked me if I had been doing my chapter readings, and I had to confess to her that I never had done them. She at first seemed mad as anyone would if they found out a student wasn’t taking their class seriously. I apologized but then she said not to. She then challenged me to do all of the work for the next chapter and compare my test scores to the previous one. I did as she said and received my highest grade all year. But, as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. She gave me everything I needed to succeed and instead I ignored what she said and continued down a path of obscurity. Finally, there was Mr. Hurley. He was a pal more than a teacher. Physics, senior year, and all I wanted to do was graduate. His class was enjoyable because most of the work was outside the classroom. Tests in physics were never challenging because it was mostly basic algebra while I was taking calculus at the time. What really brought my grade down was my refusal to do any homework. This caught up to me fairly quickly when I was getting 100’s on tests but receiving low 80’s for quarter grades. Mr. Hurley was the closest to converting me to be a really good student. He talked to me as an equal and described his experiences in schooled and paralleled them to mine. He was also a student who didn’t complete the work but was able to get through school. Then he told me something that still haunts me today. I’m paraphrasing here but he said, “One day you’re going to look around at everyone working hard and no longer think they are wasting their time, instead you’ll realize that life isn’t about how smart you are, but about how much you work for what you want.” Mr. Hurley had a way of saying something intensely profound but not sounding like he’s better than you. Instead when he said that I knew he was speaking from a place inside him, and I knew he meant it. But alas life goes on and I continued to slack off.
First was my sophomore English teacher Mrs. Carty, and to this day the best teacher I’ve ever had. Sophomore year was the closest I’ve ever come to a great student. I did my homework on time and paid attention to every class. Mrs. Carty was a great influence on that. Her class was the hardest class I’ve ever taken because she constantly demanded interaction with her students. The essays I wrote in her class were revised half a dozen times each and are the best essays I’ve written. Unfortunately, after her class I fell into an academic and motivational rut. I stopped doing homework and forgot the advantages of learning how I did in her class.
Next was my Chemistry teacher, Mrs. True. Chemistry is currently my favorite and best subject, so the material came easy to me, but this was junior year, so I was at a valley, educational wise. Luckily for me chemistry came easily to me. I aced every test the first semester and received a 100 on my midterm. The second semester wasn’t so kind to me. When the A’s turned to B’s, Mrs. True started to worry about me. In a way only she could, she walked up to me as class was ending and quietly asked me if I had been doing my chapter readings, and I had to confess to her that I never had done them. She at first seemed mad as anyone would if they found out a student wasn’t taking their class seriously. I apologized but then she said not to. She then challenged me to do all of the work for the next chapter and compare my test scores to the previous one. I did as she said and received my highest grade all year. But, as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. She gave me everything I needed to succeed and instead I ignored what she said and continued down a path of obscurity.
Finally, there was Mr. Hurley. He was a pal more than a teacher. Physics, senior year, and all I wanted to do was graduate. His class was enjoyable because most of the work was outside the classroom. Tests in physics were never challenging because it was mostly basic algebra while I was taking calculus at the time. What really brought my grade down was my refusal to do any homework. This caught up to me fairly quickly when I was getting 100’s on tests but receiving low 80’s for quarter grades. Mr. Hurley was the closest to converting me to be a really good student. He talked to me as an equal and described his experiences in schooled and paralleled them to mine. He was also a student who didn’t complete the work but was able to get through school. Then he told me something that still haunts me today. I’m paraphrasing here but he said, “One day you’re going to look around at everyone working hard and no longer think they are wasting their time, instead you’ll realize that life isn’t about how smart you are, but about how much you work for what you want.” Mr. Hurley had a way of saying something intensely profound but not sounding like he’s better than you. Instead when he said that I knew he was speaking from a place inside him, and I knew he meant it. But alas life goes on and I continued to slack off.